New Neighbors
by supervicki
Summary: This is a one-shot continuation of my Akirai story "Penpals." Please read that first to understand what is going on!


**So, I wanted to write a second one-shot based off from my Akirai one-shot, Penpals. This is set 10 years later.**

**As always, I do not own these characters. **

**Enjoy!**

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**Akihito**

On a nice summer afternoon, nineteen year old Akihito was unpacking into his new apartment after moving back to Japan. His mom stayed in Australia due to overtime hours at her grueling job, but he was reassured after she met a man that takes care of her and makes sure she eats three times a day. He chuckled at the memory of meeting her boyfriend (now fiancé) when he was fourteen. He just barely got home from high school when he interrupted a very intimate moment of his mom and her boyfriend on the couch. Needless to say, he was very grossed out. After that, he sat down in front of the two with crossed arms.

_"__So…" Akihito started, in English. He looked back and forth between his mom's frantic face and her boyfriend's nervous grin. "What are your intentions with my mother?"_

_Akihito's mom, Yayoi, slapped her face in astonishment. "God damn it, I knew I shouldn't have let him watch '_Jersey Girl_'." She said in her native tongue._

Ever since then, Akihito made sure to give them a hard time, even if he was only teasing. Yayoi was definitely aware of his teasing, but her boyfriend, Randy, was not.

Akihito moved back to Japan for two reasons: to be back in his native roots and to see Mirai every day. Mirai was his childhood pen pal/best friend that he kept in touch over the years. Even though they haven't met in person yet, they spent so much time talking on the computer and on phone. They rarely send letters anymore, only if one of them is on vacation or out of town (or in this case, out of the country).

Akihito walked into his bedroom, which was covered in boxes. The only thing that was unpacked fully was his bed and desk. He strode over to his desk and read the small box that was on there. "_Mirai's letters"_ was written on it. Akihito made sure to keep all his letters he sent back and forth to Mirai; after all he was in love with her. He started to blush while thinking about that. He didn't want to tell her his feelings yet until he finally settled down. He didn't want to chase her off after meeting her in person for the first time.

Akihito paused when he heard his cell phone ringing back in the kitchen. When he jogged to receive it, he grinned like a mad man when he saw who was calling.

"I was just thinking about you!"

"Eww, how unpleasant. Must have been a perverted thought." Mirai said. "I just called to let you know that I can't meet up today because I'm moving."

"Moving? What do you mean? Like in another city?"

"It's in an apartment complex that has a close commute to the university I'm attending. Don't worry; we can meet up finally next week."

Akihito frowned. He was looking forward to seeing her. "I guess that's fine, I just wanted to finally see you."

"I know I really do too. Maybe if I finish fast enough, we can meet each other sooner! Oh, I got to go, the moving guys needs help with directions. I'll talk to you later!"

Mirai hung up before he could even say goodbye. He sighed and walked back to his unfinished room. Akihito decided to take a nap since his scheduled date was called off.

An hour into his nap, he was rudely awakened by barging in the apartment next to him. He stood up and walked to window to peer outside. He saw a moving truck and moving guys carefully carrying a bed up the stairs. _A new neighbor, how nice._ He thought. _Just what I needed._ Akihito lay back down on his bed and covered his head with a pillow.

**Mirai**

"Yes mom, I know. No talking to strangers. I'm eighteen years old! I know that already!" Mirai argued with her mom over the phone. Today was her moving day and she was already getting nagged at by her mother. Mirai sighed, adjusting her red framed glasses on her face. "Listen, I have to go, I'm helping the movers. Bye."

She took off her glasses, pulled out her eye glasses cloth, and began cleaning her glass lenses due to a nervous habit. Mirai is finally beginning life on her own and she can't stop worrying about what could happen in the future. She pulled on her phone and began typing on her blog.

_Guys! Today is my moving day! .; _

_I'm so nervous and excited at the same time! My mom kept on nagging me to make sure I don't talk to strangers. I mean, come on, I am a grown woman living on my own and I know for a fact not to talk to STRANGERS. I have seen horror movies mom! I don't want to die! _

_I will post back and update you guys with my moving process!_

_Hopefully I won't trip up the stairs since my apartment is on the fifth floor! Why so high?!_

_WHYYYYYYY?!_

_I can do it, everyone! Wish me luck! ^.^_

_-Mirai_

"I wonder how many flames I'm going to get on his blog post." Mirai said out loud. She looked up and gasped in shock. "No! Be careful with that!" She was running towards one of the movers that was carrying her box full of her precious bonsai plants. The mover nodded nervously and walked slowly up the stairs. She sighed and looked back on her phone. On her background was a picture of the photograph that Akihito sent of himself to her when he was nine. She rolled her eyes at that dumb dinosaur with make-shift glasses on its face. She wished she could've seen him today; she had been waiting to meet him after all this time. She really wanted to tell him her feelings as well but hopefully not scare him off. She put her phone in her pocket and heaved a box from the moving truck all the way to her apartment. "Why don't they have elevators?" she scowled.

Once Mirai made it up to her apartment, she accidentally knocked down some of the boxes that hopefully weren't the fragile ones. "I hope my neighbor doesn't hate me now since I'm making so much noise." She said aloud.

Hours passed by and the movers were long gone when Mirai started unpacking her boxes in her room. She started unfolding her clothes and setting them in the closet until she saw a small box out of the corner of her eye. She looked at it and blushed; it was the box full of her saved letters from Akihito. She wondered what he was doing right now. She felt terrible for bailing out on him because she was moving. Mirai grabbed her phone, contemplating if she should call Akihito or not. Her stomach decided to let that call wait when it gave off a big growl. She grimaced and decided to call for pizza delivery; she didn't have the strength to leave her apartment yet.

Forty minutes passed by while Mirai was patiently waiting for her food. She was about to call the pizza place to find out what was taking so long until she heard knocking from her front door. She furrowed her eyebrows in frustration because she didn't realize that she was short enough to not be able to look in the peephole. "Yo! Your pizza came to the wrong apartment! I have it for you!" a male voice was heard behind the door. Nervously, she opened up the door. "Kuriyama-san?!" She couldn't help but gasp when she looked up at the man that was standing in front of her.

**Akihito**

Akihito was disturbed from his slumber yet again when he heard knocking at his front door. He got up, not bothering to fix his unruly blond bed-hair when he opened his door. There stood a guy that looked to be about a couple years younger than him in a pizza-place uniform holding a pizza box. "Can I help you?"

"One large pizza with cheese, sausage, pepperoni, and pineapples for you, sir. That'll be 1,118 yen, please."

Akihito tilted his head in confusion. "I didn't order any pizza."

The boy looked down on the receipt. "This is room 505, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't order the pizza. Maybe…" He remembered that someone moved next door to him. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "It must be my new next door neighbor's pizza. They just moved here and probably forgot their address. Hold on." Akihito walked past the boy and went up to the apartment to the right of him. He started knocking real hard, since he was pissed off for being rudely woken up. "Yo! Your pizza came to the wrong apartment! I have it for you!" he hollered, hoping if wouldn't be someone from the yakuza. When the door finally opened, he just stared in shock at whom it was that answered. "Kuriyama-san?!"

She gasped. "Akihito-kun! What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I just moved here, actually right next door to you."

They just continued to stare at each other before the pizza boy decided to awkwardly jump in. "Um, the pizza?" he nervously asked.

Akihito broke out of the trance and fished out his wallet from his pocket. He took out a 2,000 yen bill and hand it to the pizza delivery boy. "Here, you can keep the change, thank you." The young boy took the bill, bowed, and ran off, leaving the pizza on his door step. Akihito wasted no time in pulling Mirai in a tight embrace. "I didn't think we would meet like this, my bespectacled beauty."

Mirai flushed against his chest, still having her arms at her side. He still called her that after all these years and instead of pissing her off, it just made her love him more. "I'm so glad to see you, perv." The moment was then cut short when her stomach growled like wild animal. "Oh my, how unpleasant." She grimaced, looking up at his wide grin. She noticed that his hair was wilder in person but everything else on him screamed "Man" to her. Akihito had a five o'clock shadow, she can feel his muscles tighten around her, and she can feel his intense gaze on her. But even though he matured after all these years, he still had a childlike twinkle in his eyes.

He chuckled and rummaged his hand through her hair. "Come on, let's go eat."

He didn't think "let's" meant "you". They were currently sitting on the floor in Mirai's apartment since she didn't have a table ready yet. He barely had one slice when Mirai scarfed up the whole pizza. For such a small girl, Mirai had a big appetite.

After she was done, she wiped her face. "Sorry, if I knew you were going to be here, I would have ordered two large pizzas."

He laughed, waving his hands in front of him. "No worries, I'm actually pretty full from that one slice." Akihito looked around her apartment. "So, this is your new home away from home, huh?"

"Yep, it's a great commute to the university I'm attending, like I said before."

"Right, right. Say, don't you think this was fate?"

Mirai looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

He scooted closer to her so he was right in front of her. Her face flushed and her glasses started fogging up. "I mean, that we were supposed to see each other today. Especially to live right next door to each other. I mean, come on, it's gotta be fate." Akihito looked away, blushing. "I get to be neighbors with the most beautiful girl I know." He whispered.

Mirai gaped at him, taking out her glass lenses cloth and started cleaning her glasses out of habit. "M-maybe that's true or-or not, but I'm most c-certainly not b-b-beautiful."

Akihito brought up the courage to do something he had always wanted to do. He brought his hand up and cupped her face, making Mirai freeze in her actions. "You are, Kuriyama-san. You are beautiful."

"Mirai." She said, breathlessly.

"What?"

"Call me Mirai, Akihito-kun."

"Say it again."

"What?"

"My name."

"Akihito-"she was cut off from her sentence by Akihito's lips on her own. She closed her eyes and let him take over. He was unexpectedly gentle until he broke out from the kiss and looked her in the eyes.

"I hope you understand that I love you from that." She giggled and he blushed from her laugh. "What, was it bad?"

"No, no. It was actually really pleasant." Mirai smiled warmly at him and leaned forward. "I love you too, just so you know." Akihito smirked and met her in the middle, their face centimeters away from each other.

"It's nice to meet you, my new neighbor." He closed the distance for another kiss from his bespectacled beauty.


End file.
